Fox News Ratings Sinking Along With GOP Fortunes

Fox News is still clobbering the competition in the ratings department. But Roger Ailes has got to be mindful of the bad news that looms like a Republican favorability poll. UPDATED.

For starters, Huffington Post reports that Fox had its worst prime time ratings in the 25-54 demographic since August, 2001 and its lowest total day ratings since June 2008. Meanwhile, MSNBC ratings have been climbing.

Fox is still the most-watched cable news channel, but the margins are shrinking in a hurry,especially in the coveted 25-54 demo during primetime. (On The Record With Greta Van Susteren appears to be just weeks away from losing the 10 p.m. demo battle to MSNBC’s The Last Word.)

Then there’s Fox Business whose “sputtering performance six years after its launch raises doubts about Ailes’ supposed programming magic,” Boehlert adds.

But we don’t count Fox out yet. Huffington Post recently reported the following comments from David Folkenflik, NPR’s media correspondent:

He attributed the ratings dip to the sad state of Republican politics, saying, “It’s been a tough stretch for Fox in the sense that it’s been a tough stretch for conservatives.”

Folkenflik praised what he called the network’s ability “to win the largest niche possible” and keep those viewers tuned in.

I agree. But I could assure you that they’re more than a little nervous about these developments over in Ailesville.

UPDATE: Despite the recent hiring of Dennis Kucinich as a Fox News contributor, the additions of Mark Levin and Erick Erickson promise more of the same old same old at Fox.

Showing 19 reactions

mlp ! commented
“Okay….let’s think about this.
The Fox largest demographic (+53%) is in the over 50 crowd, More importantly, 25% is over 65….”

Let Fox keep pushing raising the S.S. age to 70 and we will see how long they hang on to this demographic. They are losing the ‘Newer Viewer" crowd and pushing policies that will screw over their ’Older Viewer’ crowd. As we used to say in the service as one got ‘short’….A.M.F.

Bigtoe, look at all the radio talk shows, political or not. Now look at all the talk shows that aren’t news. What do the top rated ones have in common?

They’re trash where facts just get in the way of the lowest common denominator.

The five has two women who show off their legs, the bustier one sometimes leans over excessively while wearing low cut tops, and the only words out of their mouths are insults and screaming at the token voice of reason when he does speak up.

The only thing even semi-redeeming that show is that even they realize Bob Beckel’s the only one that’s capable of a balanced, informed opinion. Regardless of which side he’s on politically.

Oh, goody- U Mad? is here… perhaps now he can answer my questions about his claiming the Fairness Doctrine is censorship. Or how pointing out that Fox’s ratings are declining is a “spin”

Oh, wait… He wants to prove he didn’t read the article while playing that “sky is falling” line- As well as prove he didn’t really look at the ratings with that “they beat everyone else combined” line. Let’s explore that, using the week of Jan. 28th- Feb. 1st:

And this is actually typical of one of thier better weeks. Their worse weeks, Hannity loses 3 days, Greta loses 4, most of the shows aren’t winning by a large margin, and at least one other show will have days they lose. Even on the links you posted they weren’t doing this bad.

Bottom line: They aren’t bouncing back, and the competition’s gaining. In a few more weeks, Greta’s all but assured to be #2, possibly #3. Hannity may hold out for a while, but he’s reaching a point where he’s likely to be #2 soon. Baier and Shep aren’t doing too hot, and the competition has to be having an off-day for The Five to have that significant a lead.

This isn’t counting out badly they do on major stories. Just accept that their reign on ratings is over, any spikes barnyard behaviour gets them is just a delay, and get on with your life.

Okay….let’s think about this.
The Fox largest demographic (+53%) is in the over 50 crowd, More importantly, 25% is over 65, 2nd to only Limbaugh in that age group.
So…..losses due to attrition aside, how wise was it for Fox news to be campaigning against Social Security (as shown in a few threads below this one) to the group that counts on it the most?

FOX just ended 2012 as the #1 cable news channel for the 11th year in a row. They also had the top 11 programs for 2012 (a pretty amazing stat).

Also, everyone is neglecting to include the fact that we just had a presidential election end. Of course FOX ratings are going to go down. In October FOX set a record for its highest-rated tele-cast ever with 11.5 million viewers for a presidential debate.

But, for everyone that thinks FOX news is about to crumble and go away (like Rush Limbaugh was supposed to for the last quarter century) dont hold your breath.

Using the sources you listed, it sure looks like a downward trend to me. And the 25-54 demographic is the future of all these organizations. The typical fox viewer will die off in the next 10-20 years.

I don’t think “the sky is falling” would be the appropriate slogan; try “Who ya got?”

I personally see Hannity being demoted to Greta’s slot, since his ratings are falling the 2nd fastest, and his spot being given to one of the daytime/guest host tokens.

Is Juan Williams on good enough terms with the network to be given a full-time hosting slot? He tests about as well as the tolerance of the average Fox News viewer allows when he’s on. He’d be a great “go-to” for both the network and it’s apologists.

I believe you’ll see changes in a couple of months. They’ll wait to see if the downward trend continues, particularly after they continue to bang the drum of whatever they can about President Obama. The one whose ratings have dropped the most is Greta, and I’ve heard somewhere else about the notion of them dropping her program and putting in a new show with Megyn Kelly instead.

Part of this is also a matter of the very expensive contracts already drawn up with various people. I thought that both O’Reilly and Hannity were re-upped last year for multi-year deals at a high price tag. I doubt anything happens with those two guys at all. Not sure about The Five. Seems to me that’s the easiest show they could drop if they really get in a pinch.

As advertisers leave or demand rebates, Fux Noise’s profit margins will diminish. Wrinkled Rupert will expect Jabba The Ailes to take immediate corrective action. Hard times are ahead for Fux Noise. Bildo will have to reuse his loofahs, and Greta Van Suckup will postpone that expensive face-lift procedure.